Allyn offers town $30K to end YMCA assets issue

Skaneateles  William F. “Bill” Allyn, former president and CEO of Welch Allyn and scion of the Allyn family, has offered the town of Skaneateles $30,000 of his own money if it will end its battle with the Skaneateles Recreation Charitable Trust over YMCA assets.

Allyn, acting “as an individual” and not on behalf of any board, organization or company, made the offer in order to “bring this situation to a conclusion without any further frustration or waste of time,” he wrote to Town Supervisor Terri Roney in a July 26 email.

At issue is the ongoing disagreement between the town board and the SRCT concerning ownership of nearly 1,000 assets currently in the YMCA facility that had been carried over from the Skaneateles Community Center when the town managed the facility.

The town and SRCT had agreed to a deal in which the YMCA could keep the assets for $68,500, the town board approved the agreement but then the SRCT reneged and sought to have the town donate the assets to the SRCT instead. The town maintains that the New York state constitution prohibits such a gift from a municipality without fair compensation.

In the email exchange between Allyn and Roney, obtained by the Skaneateles Press through a Freedom of Information Law request, Allyn indicated he was trying to “bring some leadership to the table” to get the impasse between the town and the SRCT resolved. With the town anticipating a possible legal battle with the SRCT over the assets, Allyn indicated that his proposal would save the town board “unnecessary legal expenses” and “future embarrassment” over the issue. “I have lived here most of my life and have a pretty good understanding of the people. There is no way the [town board] can win in the court of public opinion,” he wrote.